Some claims are too petty even for Media Matters to make on the merits alone.Â Unfortunately, thatâ€™s not to say they have the good sense to abandon such attacksâ€”no, they just need a little extra padding, like dredging up old, unrelated controversies to make them seem more significant.

Such is the sorry state of their latest attack on Sean Hannity, who, in a discussion last night with Fox Newsâ€™ John Gibson, observed:

Look at, for example, MoveOn.org. Look at how ugly this got. Here’s a guy that has dedicated his life — General [David] Petraeus — to saving his country: “General Petraeus or General Betray Us?â€ [â€¦] Why do you think there wasn’t more outrage and why wasn’t there more media coverage — in the mainstream media — on this?

First, Media Matters runs down a long list of media outlets that did cover the General Betray-Us ad.Â Unfortunately, they donâ€™t describe or link to any of them, leaving the reader to guess just how accurate, biased, or â€œextensiveâ€ any of that coverage really was.Â Are we talking full reports, or passing references in other discussions?Â Substantive criticism and reporting on the adâ€™s offensive nature, or attempts to equivocate?

In any event, Media Matters seems to have caught Hannity speaking less precisely than he should have in an off-the-cuff reference to a two-year-old controversy.Â Keep up the important work, guys!Â Maybe you can follow-up with a special report exposing all the typos in Gibsonâ€™s new book!

Perhaps sensing that this observation might not be stunning enough to warrant a full post, Media Matters introduces a hypocrisy angle, claiming that many of the same outlets who pounced on the Betray-Us story ignored the faux controversy over Rush Limbaughâ€™s â€œphony soldiersâ€ remarks.Â Yes, because we all know the mainstream mediaâ€™sreal problem is its right-wing bias!

It never ceases to amaze what non-stories pass for scandal on the Left.Â Media Mattersâ€™ strategy might be to overwhelm conservatives with the sheer number of their daily attacks, but their tactics only prove that quantity is no substitute for quality.